Across the Mersey - Annie Groves [75]
Alan’s mother’s face was a picture as she struggled between immediate relief and the sudden horrified dawning that what she might be facing could be a lot worse than an unwanted grandchild.
‘You’ve had an accident?’ she demanded.
‘Could I have a cup of tea?’ Bella begged her. ‘And p’haps sit down? Only I feel ever so weak.’
‘You’d better come into the kitchen.’
Delighted that her plan was going so well, Bella followed her mother-in-law down the cold drab hallway. The Parkers’ house was nowhere as nicely done out as her parents’. The skirtings and doors were painted dull dark brown, lincrusta wallpaper painted dark green stretched up from the skirting to dado rail height above, while the rest of the wall was papered in maroon and green striped wallpaper. The whole effect was overpowering and gloomy.
The kitchen was no better, its walls painted in shiny green paint, the oilcloth on the floor the same dark brown as the skirtings.
The smell of cooking tripe filled the kitchen. Bella’s stomach heaved. She hated tripe and her own mother knew better than to cook it ever.
‘So what exactly happened then?’
Bella sank down into the chair she was offered and tried to blot out the smell of the cooking tripe.
‘It was just after Alan had come in from …’ Bella bit down on her bottom lip and let her voice falter. She was enjoying this. ‘Please don’t say anything to Mr Parker, will you, only poor Alan is working so hard and if he does stop off on the way home for a bit of a drink, well, he doesn’t mean any harm. Afterwards, he feels really bad about the way it makes him. He always says so.’
Alan’s mother looked as though she was about to explode. Her face had gone a deep beetroot red and her eyes were bulging in their sockets. She didn’t dress anything like as nicely as her own mother, Bella thought critically, and she certainly hoped she never got so stout.
‘Alan was there with you then, was he?’
Bella opened her mouth and then closed it again, the picture of uncertainty and guilt, the picture of a young wife desperate to protect her husband.
‘I …’
She was saved from having to reply by the sound of someone hammering on the back door, and she wasn’t at all surprised when Alan’s mother opened it to admit Alan himself, looking very different from the dapper full-of-himself young man who had first caught Bella’s eye. Unshaven, his suit creased and his shirt cuffs grubby, he looked wildly from Bella to his mother.
‘What’s she been telling you?’ he demanded.
‘I was just explaining to your mother about my accident, Alan, and how I walked into the door, and then fell over and banged my head.’ Bella gave him a reproachful limpid-eyed look, and had the pleasure of seeing the confusion darken his eyes.
‘Your mother was saying that I ought to see a doctor.’
‘No.’
Mother and son both spoke at once.
‘No, you did right to come round here, dear,’ Mrs Parker assured Bella, baring her teeth in what Bella assumed must be an attempt at a compassionate smile. ‘A bit of arnica on your bruises and you’ll be as good as new in a few days. And no going worrying your own parents, mind. I know how busy your mother is with all her charity work, and we wouldn’t want her to get herself into an upset state, would we, not now that she’s my deputy?’
‘Oh, no, I wouldn’t want to worry Mummy,’ Bella agreed.
She turned to Alan. ‘I’m really sorry that I made you cross because I got all muddled up and told Mummy that we could go to her on Christmas Day, darling. Please say you’ll forgive me.’
‘Well, of course he does,’ Mrs Parker told her firmly. ‘Everyone has these silly little fall-outs when they first get married. And I dare say it was you being so upset about Alan being a little bit cross with you that caused you to be forgetful and have your accident in the first place, wasn’t it, Bella?’
Bella got up and went to Alan’s side, reaching for his hand and smiling up at him.
‘Yes … that’s exactly what happened,’ she agreed.
Alan was looking at her as though he couldn